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Decay Uncovered in Nonverbal Short-Term Memory This is a repository copy of Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/97291/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Mercer, T and McKeown, D (2014) Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 21 (1). pp. 128-135. ISSN 1069-9384 https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-013-0472-6 Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version - refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher’s website. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory 1 Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory Tom Mercer1 and Denis McKeown2 1 Psychology Division, School of Applied Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom 2 Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, United Kingdom Correspondence address: Tom Mercer Psychology Division, School of Applied Sciences University of Wolverhampton Wulfruna Street Wolverhampton, UK WV1 1LY Email: [email protected] Telephone: +44(0)1902 321368 Running head: Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory. Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory 2 Abstract Decay theory posits that memory traces gradually fade away over the passage of time unless actively rehearsed. Much recent work exploring verbal short-term memory has challenged this theory, but there does appear to be evidence for trace decay in nonverbal auditory short- term memory. Numerous discrimination studies have reported a performance decline as the interval separating two tones is increased, consistent with a decay process. However, most of the tone comparison research can be explained in other ways, without reference to decay, and these alternative accounts were tested in the present study. In Experiment 1 signals were employed towards the end of extended retention intervals to ensure that listeners were alert to the presence and frequency content of the memoranda. In Experiment 2 a mask stimulus was employed in an attempt to distinguish between a highly detailed sensory trace and a longer- lasting short-term memory, and the distinctiveness of the stimuli was varied. Despite these precautions, slow-acting trace decay was observed. It therefore appears that the mere passage of time can lead to forgetting in some forms of short-term memory. Keywords: Auditory memory, decay, forgetting, short-term memory. Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory 3 Introduction Trace decay theory, the proposal that representations of recent events gradually fade away with the passage of time, has emerged as perhaps the most contentious issue within contemporary forgetting research (e.g. Altmann, 2009; Barrouillet, De Paepe, & Langerock, 2012; Barrouillet, Portrat, & Camos, 2011; Cowan & AuBuchon, 2008; Lewandowsky, Duncan, & Brown, 2004; Lewandowsky & Oberauer, 2008; Lewandowsky, Oberauer, & Brown, 2009; Neath & Nairne, 1995; Oberauer & Lewandowsky, 2008, 2011). Barrouillet, Portrat, Vergauwe, Diependaele, and Camos (2011, p. 1315) have stated that “there is no direct evidence against the hypothesis of a time-related decay in the short-term”, but other researchers have been much more critical and favour interference as the cause of forgetting (e.g. Lewandowsky et al. 2009; Oberauer, Lewandowsky, Farrell, Jarrold, & Greaves, 2012). However, there does appear to be evidence for time-based forgetting in nonverbal auditory memory. In the classic two-tone comparison paradigm, participants are asked to contrast standard and comparison tones over a silent retention interval (RI) of variable length. To discriminate the two tones, participants must memorize the standard, yet numerous studies have reported a strong decline in performance as the RI separating the standard from the comparison is lengthened (see McKeown & Mercer, 2012, for a review of this literature). This is exactly what decay theory expects and such degradation of auditory memory traces over the passage of time is predicted by the timbre memory model (TMM). This account states that memories of auditory events are used to build predictive models of the acoustical environment, and consequently TMM is primed to detect and respond to novel sounds (McKeown & Wellsted, 2009; Mercer & McKeown, 2010a, 2010b). This may occur through a rapid memory updating process driven by the occurrence of new auditory events, but slow- Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory 4 acting decay would also be advantageous in allowing the removal of memories which are no longer useful (Altmann, 2009, offers a similar argument about decay in episodic memory). Nonetheless, given the very strong anti-decay arguments outlined in the wider short-term memory literature (e.g. Lewandowsky et al., 2009), it is important to revisit the two-tone comparison procedure. This is particularly pertinent since there are alternative explanations for the performance decline at long RIs which have never previously been tested. Notably, following a prolonged RI, listeners may have become inattentive at the time the comparison stimulus occurred. By this account, it is not decay of the standard tone memory trace that accounts for poorer performance when the RI is extended, but rather it reflects wandering attention or lack of preparedness. A related but separate possibility links to a form of drifting attention in audition which is thought to be frequency-specific. It is known that listeners can effectively monitor a particular frequency, and a pure tone cue can direct listeners to a particular frequency (e.g. Green & McKeown, 2001). Perhaps, then, attention wanders from the standard tone frequencies at longer RIs, leading to a decline in discriminatory accuracy. Experiment 1 Listeners compared the timbre of two complex tones separated by an extended RI. In order to examine the lack of preparedness account, we introduced an alerting tone towards the end of the RI. It was expected that this alert cue would permit the directing of attention to the upcoming comparison tone. We also included a condition in which the alert cue stimulus had the same frequency components as our standard and comparison tones, better to direct attention to the relevant frequencies and assess the wandering attention explanation. Hence, if poorer performance at long RIs is due to a drifting of auditory attention from the frequency region(s) of the standard tone over time, the frequency specific alert should act to counter Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory 5 this. Decay theory would anticipate no beneficial effects of the alert stimuli. To prevent the alert stimuli from interfering with task performance, they were always presented in the opposite ear to the standard and comparison. This can minimize retroactive interference effects (Starr & Pitt, 1997). A control condition (silent 30) omitted the alert tone. Figure 1 illustrates the trial arrangement. “Figure 1 about here” Method Participants. Six participants (four female) ranging in age from 21 to 31 volunteered to take part. All individuals self-reported normal hearing and received hourly payment for participation. Stimuli. The sounds that listeners compared over a time interval were similar to musical chords of several simultaneous "notes", having distinct timbres. They were the same tones used in McKeown and Mercer's (2012) first experiment, and consisted of six periodic complex tones consisting of eight frequency components. Four of these components were incremented by 5.1 dB, creating a subtle change in the timbre of the sounds. The frequency specific alert was also a complex tone comprising eight equal amplitude components without any distinguishing timbre, although this always occurred at the same pitch as the standard and comparison. The pure tone alert sound was a single "note" or frequency. All stimuli were approximately 80 dB, 200 ms in duration and varied in intensity both between (0-9 dB) and within (0-6 dB) trials. The timbre complexes could be presented at any of seven pitches between trials (D at 146.8 Hz through Fs, A, C#1, E1, G1 and Bb1 at 466.2 Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory 6 Hz). The pure tone alerts were presented at six distinct pitches, each of which was associated with one of the timbres. Stimuli were created via TDT RP2.1 hardware, MathWorks MATLAB and TDT RPvdsEx software. Tones were attenuated (PA5), filtered (Kemo VBF21M filter: 100 Hz to 10 kHz), and output to STAX SR-303 Classic headphones. Participants completed the experiment whilst seated within an Industrial Acoustics Company double-walled sound-attenuating booth. Design and procedure. Each trial commenced with a pure tone alert in the right ear. The to-be-memorized standard tone was then presented in the left ear 1 s after the offset of the alert cue. This alternation occurred with the same stimuli two more times, establishing a simple acoustical context. After the offset of the third standard, the comparison tone was presented in the left ear following an interval of either 1.2 or 30 s. Participants were required to determine whether the standard and comparison were the same or different, indicating their decision using a response box. When the RI was just 1.2 s, the next trial commenced 10 s after a response. The inter-trial interval (ITI) was increased to 35 s when the RI was 30 s, which helped to reduce confusion between tones on the current and previous trial.
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